How did basketball take over startup land?

Beer, pizza, panels, and networking. These are the four pillars of a classic startup event, and right across the country you’re almost guaranteed to find an event any night of the week that will be sporting those staples.

But as the sector matures, so is the way it congregates. And there’s a rapidly growing wave of startup community gatherings that are pushing away from the focus on drinking, and leaning into other shared interests and activities. From meet-ups and events based around sports and games and getting healthy, to kid-friendly hangouts, as well as new and creative ways to eat and drink together.

And it’s no secret that the folk here at Startup Daily love an event. So we’re going to start covering the plethora of ways you can get together for a good time with your tech comrades.

And to start things off, let’s take a look at arguably the most rapidly exploding sub-community – the startup basketball scene.

Shooting hoops

When you think about it, it makes sense that basketball would take off as a startup hobby.

There’s the obvious link with the US – the number one destination for aspirational ballers and founders who want to take their talents onto the biggest stage. And on the flipside our startup community is awash with North American accents – founders, startup employees, and investors who have immigrated across the Pacific bringing with them plenty of startup experience and NBA allegiances.

Then there’s the historically tight connections between tech and basketball itself, both internationally and locally. Kevin Durant famously has a startup portfolio of over 100 investments, while Baron Davis recently spoke at LA TechWeek about his post-NBA life as a founder and investor. Closer to home, NBA champions Andrew Bogut and Matthew Dellavedova are part of Athletic Ventures along with plenty of other b’ball pros. Boges has been an active investor ever since learning about the startup world during his time at Golden State, getting involved via Blackbird as well as a number of direct investments such as ListingLoop.

So the fact that it’s a burgeoning activity in Australia shouldn’t come as a surprise. But the fact that it’s exploded so quickly comes down to coincidence – that two guys from startup land at different parts of the country both had the same great idea at the same time.

Mark Zmarzly and Brandon Burns are the godfathers of the Aussie startup basketball scene.

In October 2023 Brandon and the team at Teamified (formerly Patona) thought they’d see if a few people from their Melbourne network wanted to get together for a casual game of basketball. Seeing as though the Commons Central House had a half-court, they thought it would be perfect for a little 3-on-3 action.

The problem was they had 15 people come along. They did it a second time, and 30 people turned up.

Very quickly they realised they were onto something and needed to scale it. So Brandon started booking blocks of 4 courts at the MSAC Sports Centre, putting together teams in a round-robin format, and running sessions for an arena full of sweaty bodies.

12 months later, there are over 350 people in the Melbourne Startup Basketball community. Every 6 weeks, over 100 players will take to the court – people of all shapes, sizes, and skill levels.

Sign up for a team – which all have a female captain – and you might see Thriday co-founder Michael Nuciforo throwing up 3-point bombs from Steph Curry territory, or Felicia Coco from LaunchLink hustling for a stray rebound like she’s Dennis Rodman.

“Rather than the traditional beers and networking, we’ve driven massive community through the vehicle of fitness. It’s business, it’s fun, it’s some friendly competition, and we’ve only had one achilles and one calf injury to deal with!” says Brandon.

What Brandon’s established in Melbourne is welcoming, relaxed, and built around connection without expectation. You could have played all your life or have never touched a basketball, it doesn’t matter as long as you bring a good attitude.

After a shower everyone gets together for lunch, a chat, and to hear from top shelf speakers such as Luxury Escapes co-founder Adam Schwab and Catch co-founder Gabby Leibovich who have come to the post-game functions to share their stories. This is about business, after all.

“Like any good MVP, it’s still growing and evolving, and getting better every time.”

Connecting on the court

Around the same time in 2023, Brisbane-based Mark Zmarzly from AWS thought he’d see if a few people from his Sydney network wanted to get together for a casual game of basketball. So he rented a court in the city for an hour. Perfect for a little 3-on-3 action…

Lo and behold, the man known as “Z” had the same problem as his yet-unknown counterpart down south. 20 people turned up to that first session. 40 people at the second. Pretty soon regular pick-up games were happening every time Mark travelled to Sydney, and then in his home town Brisbane, and before long it was something people expected, nay craved, more often. Turn up to one of these runs and you might see Mick Liubinskas winding back the clock to dish dimes like Chris Paul, or Claire Bull hustling around the court like a modern day Michelle Timms.

For Z, organising these games is a way to connect with people on a deeper level beyond the usual questions and topics, and then get to know those people in a whole new way.

“The startup ecosystem should be about connecting on what you’re passionate about, and basketball has proven to be a very popular, passionate topic for so many.

Trust is established in a whole new way when you’re on the court with someone, and you get to know their real personality from the way they hustle, the way they interact with team mates.”

So in March 2024, Z organised the Sydney Startup Basketball March Madness tournament. By this time Mark and Brandon had met – our very own Adam Silver and Larry Kestelman – and decided to collaborate on their budding organisations. So following the playbook from Melbourne, the March Madness round robin tourney came to life. Hosted at Hoops Capital in Moore Park, you would have witnessed Zach Rose from Airtree doing his best DeMar DeRozan impersonation, or AWS’ Maud Tournay breaking ankles like Caitlin Clark.

And after all the alley oops were thrown and high fives slapped, the trash talk is put aside and the friendly networking begins.

And that part happens at the pub, with a few beers and pizza of course.

If you want to join some startup hoops, subscribe to the brand new community newsletter ‘The Bench’ here, and connect with Mark Zmarzly and Brandon Burns to get on their Syd/Mel/Bris (and now Gold Coast) databases. The next event is happening in Sydney on Wednesday November 27, sign up here.